


Just Another Night

by sujing



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Gen, Junior Assistant Percy Weasley, POV Percy Weasley, Writing Exercise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 14:52:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19770529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sujing/pseuds/sujing
Summary: Percy is alone in the Ministry working late at night when the alarms report intruders on Level Nine.





	Just Another Night

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the Little Red’s Writing Hood Discord server. June Week 2 writing exercise: horror/fantasy premise but write about it as if it’s normal/cracky (for horror). 
> 
> ~~~
> 
> Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction that uses characters from and the world of Harry Potter, owned by J.K. Rowling.

It was just another night of working late at the Ministry. Just another ordinary night of staying behind after everyone else had already left, the corridors dark and unoccupied. It should have been lonely, or at least a little worrying, in the event that anything went wrong, but Percy was occupied with other matters. 

Percy was Junior Assistant to the Minister for Magic, and he was dedicated to his position. He had earned it after a year of enthusiastic hard work under Crouch Sr, and he fully believed that he deserved it. 

He was important, you see. Needed, crucial. That knowledge filled him with a sense of purpose and of achievement that his father would never possess. Percy was the proud backbone of Fudge’s office, second only to the Senior Undersecretary. Who else had the temperament to handle the multitude of mundane tasks that the Minister wouldn’t, couldn’t deal with himself? Who else had Percy’s level of efficiency, his unwavering consistency?

There was no one better for the job than Percy, or so he believed. The Minister was a busy man, but Percy made sure to be even busier. 

Percy was going through all the Minister’s most important paperwork from the past month when the alarms went off, signalling intruders on Level Nine— _The Department of Mysteries._

But Percy, being on a tight deadline and eight floors above the source of the disturbance, opted to ignore it and continued with his task. Really, it was likely to be nothing more than another faulty charm gone awry. That happened far too often for his liking at the Ministry—only last week, he’d had to rectify a disastrous incident with the aeroplane memos during a rare visit from Madam Umbridge, who’d been busy with her new post as Headmistress of Hogwarts. He still cringed at the very thought of those purple bits of paper plastered garishly all over her pink outfit and her futile efforts to remove them. 

She hadn’t been pleased, to say the least. 

When Percy felt a loud, foundation-shaking explosion come from somewhere beneath him, he jolted, nearly dropping the tall stack of files he was carrying. Though he managed to steady himself against the wall in time, preventing the fruit of his efforts from tumbling to the floor, his glasses smudged against his face, leaving the imprint of his eyelids on the lenses. 

… Percy was going to give whoever was responsible a stern talking-to—that is, if he came across them. 

But first, his duties. 

_Stay cool, Perce,_ he thought to himself, setting the stack down to free up his hands. He tapped his wand against his glasses, restoring them back to their usual pristine state. 

Just as he lifted the stack in his arms again, another noise sounded from below. Louder, this time, and sending even greater tremors through the tiled ground. Stumbling, the stack slipped from Percy’s hold, sending a flurry of sheets through the air. 

Percy watched in stunned disbelief as the papers fell. That was a _full hour_ of careful organisation wasted. 

His brows furrowed. How was he to maintain his usual efficiency with that constant disruption? Who was making such a ruckus, and so late? Huffing in irritation, Percy decided that his only real option was to take the lifts down to Level Nine and straighten out whatever commotion was taking place there.

 _Merlin,_ some people were so unprofessional. Did they have no consideration for others? It was like being a prefect all over again.

**Author's Note:**

> Beware the might of Percy ready to chew you out, escaped convicts and well-meaning students alike ;)


End file.
